Generally, legacy customer service systems rely upon a toll-free number the user dials to access customer service. However, these systems are plagued with inefficiencies that affect both the user and the organization providing the customer service.
From the user's perspective, there is an unreasonable waste of valuable time. Typically, before the user is able to talk with a qualified customer service agent, there are several frustrating steps. Step one, consists of a time-consuming list of phone menu options, often inapplicable, that sometimes discourage the user from proceeding further. Some menus are so long that users cannot make a selection because they cannot remember all the options provided by the Interactive Voice Response system.
If the user is persistent and manages to overcome Step one, Step two leaves the user waiting online for periods that may extend from minutes to over one hour. During the wait, music interrupted by patience messages and suggestions is often imposed by the system. Unfortunately, such environment generally precludes the user from concentrating on any productive task while waiting. In addition, the user's phone line becomes unavailable for other purposes during the entire waiting period. Step three is pre-empted by a phone ring indicating a forthcoming link to the voice of a customer service agent. In some cases, after a brief evaluation by the customer service agent, the user is directed to a Step four. During Step four the call is transferred to a specialized agent capable of addressing the user's problems. If the transfer is successful, there is a ring, and the user finally has the opportunity to communicate with the specialized agent. If the transfer is not successful, there is a click, and a recording provides the well-known message “if you want to make a call please hang-up and try again.” Eventually, the user is left with two unpleasant choices; namely, give up or start all over again.
From the perspective of the organization that offers the customer service there are numerous inefficiencies: (1) Poor utilization of personnel due to random fluctuations in demand. (2) Wasteful utilization of tool-free lines due to long wait-times. (3) High employee turnover rate due to stress. (4) Poorly qualified agents due to lack of specialization. (5) Inadequate identification of the user's problem prior to contact with the agent, due to the limited capabilities of Interactive Voice Response systems. (6) No effective means for educating and encouraging users to use online knowledge-bases to address their questions. (7) No cost effective means to enhance customer satisfaction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,782 to Srinivasan discloses a system that prompts the caller to choose between holding or receiving a return call. If the caller chooses a return call, the arrangement prompts the caller for callback time and time-period. The arrangement places an outgoing call to the stored telephone number when the callback time arrives. If the call does not get through, the arrangement repeatedly periodically repeats placing of the outgoing call, until the call gets through or the callback time-period expires. When it places the outgoing call, the arrangement connects the originating end thereof to an ACD agent to handle the call.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,884 to Williams also discloses a system that prompts the caller to choose between holding and receiving a return call. If the caller chooses a return call, caller information is automatically taken from the caller on hold, the call disconnected and the call returned at the time when the caller would have been serviced had the caller stayed on hold.
Although Srinivasan and Williams do disclose systems that enable the caller to receive a call-back instead of holding, they do not present the user a selection of available time windows from which the user can choose an opportune time to have a phone session with an agent. As a result such systems do not provide a method for balancing the workload of the agents to operate at maximum efficiency. Furthermore, these systems require a telephone call to be placed by the user. This call generally requires the user to navigate through an elaborate, time consuming, and difficult to use Interactive Voice Response system, which is a very inconvenient method to access a customer service agent.
In summary, legacy customer service operations are well documented to be a source of frustration for users and a major source of unproductive expenditures and concern for those organizations that need to run them (Telephone automation, customer misery—Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Jun. 20, 1999.) The lack of a cost-effective Internet-based system to efficiently schedule customer service phone sessions, limits customer satisfaction, creates a multitude of economic and logistic problems for many institutions, and is becoming a major impediment to improving the relationship between such institutions and their customers.